{"id":4612,"date":"2003-10-08T18:25:14","date_gmt":"2003-10-08T22:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2003\/10\/08\/making-the-world-safe-for-cur"},"modified":"2011-08-05T15:00:37","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T19:00:37","slug":"making-the-world-safe-for-curmudgeons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2003\/10\/08\/making-the-world-safe-for-curmudgeons\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the World Safe for Curmudgeons"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t usually see or read AARP Magazine<\/em>, but Lauren Hutton’s on the cover of the current edition, and got my attention — until I noticed the tease for an article inside that tells us why America needs curmudgeons more than ever.\u00a0 A Few Good Grumps<\/em>, by Jon Winokur (Nov.-Dec. 2003) is enjoyable reading, and can be found online by clicking here<\/a> (after<\/em> finishing this posting, please).<\/font><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You’ll even find a <\/font>quiz<\/font><\/a> to discover whether you are a crank.\u00a0<\/font><\/font>The Results section of the quiz is classic:<\/font><\/div>\n

If you refused to take this quiz because it’s a damn fool waste of time\u2014and then wrote a lengthy, self-righteous letter explaining precisely why<\/em> it was a damn fool waste of time\u2014congratulations: You are officially a curmudgeon.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Winokur has literally written the book on the topic, and here are a few of his insights about curmudgeons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They refuse to see life through the filter of wishful thinking and are outspoken in their devotion to the harsh realities of life.<\/li>\n
  2. [T]hese are tough times for curmudgeons. In an age of fast-food intellect, when crudity is mistaken for cleverness, the articulate, witty curmudgeon seems out of place.<\/li>\n
  3. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, our nation is becoming curmudgeon intolerant. It’s as though our American ears, like our American bellies, have gone soft. Look around and you’ll see the triumph of the mindless happy.<\/li>\n
  4. Curmudgeons aren’t just funny or just mean. Part of what makes a curmudgeon is an almost allergic reaction to injustice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n
  5. “Curmudgeons are idealists at heart,” insists 60 Minutes<\/em> commentator Andy Rooney.<\/li>\n
  6. Curmudgeons thrive at both ends of the political spectrum.\u00a0 [from Gore Vidal to Ann Coulter]<\/li>\n
  7. Political correctness\u2014denying or softening obvious truths in the interest of good will and harmony\u2014is an elephant-size target for any good curmudgeon.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It seems to this cranky idealist, that the legal profession (like any good bar) needs a lot more curmudgeons.\u00a0 Now, go read the rest of that article, if you know what’s good for you!<\/div>\n
    <\/blockquote>\n

    <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t usually see or read AARP Magazine, but Lauren Hutton’s on the cover of the current edition, and got my attention — until I noticed the tease for an article inside that tells us why America needs curmudgeons more than ever.\u00a0 A Few Good Grumps, by Jon Winokur (Nov.-Dec. 2003) is enjoyable reading, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1co","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14104,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions\/14104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}